---
title: Then the hand of the person who has touched the bird will be held as… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the hand of the person who has touched the bird will be held as in a vice, and nothing will set it free, unless you touch it with this little stick which I will make you a present of. Who acts: person, nothing, you, little stick. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Magic Sw
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Magic Swan, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the hand of the person who has touched the bird will be held as in a vice, and nothing will set it free, unless you touch it with this little stick which I will make you a present of.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** person, nothing, you, little stick · **What happens:** touch, hold, set, make · **To what, where:** bird, hand, you

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Magic Swan. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (person, nothing, you, little stick), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg7277:23:19
# text = Then the hand of the person who has touched the bird will be held as in a vice, and nothing will set it free, unless you touch it with this little stick which I will make you a present of.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	touched	touch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	vice	vice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	23	nsubj	_	_
22	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	parataxis	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	touch	touch	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	parataxis	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	34	det	_	_
33	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
35	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
36	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	acl:relcl	_	_
39	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	xcomp	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **touch** | present · perfect | the person | the bird |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme bird=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **hold** | future · passive |  | the hand of the person |  |  | then | as a vice | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **set** | future | nothing | bird |  |  |  | free *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient it=Result |
| 4 | **touch** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | bird |  |  |  | with this little stick | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Theme with stick=Instrument |
| 5 | **make** | future | this little stick | you |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset you=Product |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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